Reviewer:
Mind Wondrin
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favoritefavoritefavorite -
July 7, 2018
Subject:
The man relaxes
After the debacles of the first night in the Igloo, the powers that be apparently cooled for this night, the last-ever at this venue. Like the night before, the main reason this was officially released was due to the lack of a top SBD in circ. The previous night was better but this has different highlights.
First Set. Greatest Story opens for the first time since Chicago '87, but it's shaky getting going until the Jack-a-Roe. You can tell it excites the whole band and it shores the set. After a brief Beer Barrel tuning, El Paso is brought back after 2yrs (also 4/9/87). It's either rusty or very mellow: yr pick. Most of the lyrics are remembered for Built to Last and the solo is nice. Victim is not the best of '89, but solid enough, and then Phil takes the witness stand for an above average Tom Thumb's. A lite but solid Dough Knees leaves 'em happy.
Second Set. When a second set opened with Blow Away, Heads had differing opinions about what this portended. Looking back, this was a Brent tour, so it's probably a better choice than trad culprits. This was Bobby's histrionic period for Estimated and Crazy Fingers is oddly feeble. It all turns round after Drums>Space and the rest is all above average. Jer teases GDtRFB coming out of a fine Miracle, but they had played it the night before. What follows instead is a stellar Stella. That brief tease may be what keeps it uptempo. These were the moments when the entire arena was just hanging on Jer. Sugar Magnolia is then strong, with a good jam section. Check Bobby during Black Muddy. He's a lot of the reason it stands out for the year.
1st Set: C
2nd Set: B-
Overall = 3 stars
Highlights:
Jack-a-Roe - excites the whole band
Stella Blue - Jer has arena hanging
Black Muddy River - maybe year's best version
SOURCES: The tobin_125413 patched and re-pitched the SBD, but it's not balanced or leveled like the official release. Perhaps the tobin_125281 matrix is preferable, with its better mix and balance. The Fitzy_Keo_125023 is the best AUD - several others run slow. A shaky and blurry vid is usually up on YouTube.